Telecommuting, distributed, or remote work — are all interchangeable words used to describe the arrangement of an employee or contractor working in the comfort of their home (or coffee shop).
Full disclosure, Fullmoon Digital is a 100% distributed PPC management agency, SEM and social media advertising agency.
That’s correct. Every team member in our paid media agency works from home. It took us about 8 months to get it right (with many mistakes along the way), but we are in a healthy place today — and growing steadily.
Of course, there are those on the other side of the fence — the people who feel working remotely has drawbacks.
After many years of working to build a remote team, I’ve learnt a thing or two about it. And my conclusion is…
Remote working is not for babies and I’m not a babysitter.
In fact, employers need to understand that they shouldn’t take on the roll of babysitting their remote employees.
It’s not harsh. It’s the right thing to do.
If remote employees need to be babysat, then you, the employer have royally screwed up your remote employee process.
Here are 6 things I wish people understand about building remote teams.
Remote Working Requires Maturity, Discipline, and Hard Work
Perhaps the fantasy of working from home or in some coffee shop is seductive enough for you to consider looking for a company that offers it.
Let’s get that out of the way. If that’s the first thing that comes to mind, then working remotely is not right for you.
Working remotely certainly means you could work from anywhere you have wifi connection. But it has been trivialized.
I have worked in-house for majority of my career, and I’ve also had the opportunity to work remotely, before starting Fullmoon Digital.
One of the reasons why distributed teams is difficult to grow is because most of the hires lack the maturity to appreciate this freedom. They end up taking advantage and making wrong decisions.
Instead of working on a deadline, they decide to deal with it later and go hang out with friends. The lack of discipline is what destroys the efficiency potential of remote work.
5 Reason Working Remotely Is Not For You
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1. It’s Definitely Not for Everyone — This Should be Obvious By Now
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2. Self-Learning Is Universal Whether Your Are Working Remotely Or Not
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3. Loneliness Is Not Biased
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4. Productivity Expectations Are Equal
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5. Freedom Can Be Abused (But Not Any Easier)
When you hire an employee and they work in the office, you have total control over their activities, monitor their behavior, and manage their time.
For organizations that have teams spread across the country/world, there needs to be complete trust and transparency to make things work.
And sometimes, that can mean taking months to find the right hires, taking calculated hiring risks, and accepting the fact that mistakes will be made.
At FMDM, I take long time to hire for any role — not because I don’t need the help, on the contrary. It’s because I NEED the help, and I MUST find the right person even if it means taking several months.
It’s Definitely Not for Everyone — This Should be Obvious By Now
I’ve read (as I’m sure you have as well) multitude of articles explaining why working remotely is not for everyone – duh! That’s like not everyone eats meat! Or dairy doesn’t bode well for everyone. You get the point. This is obvious.
What is less obvious is the ability for someone to admit that working remotely is not the best fit.
Over the past two years, I have interviewed many candidates for different remote roles — and the one thing I’ve never heard is this…
“Derek, after thinking about this, working remotely is not for me.” Never!
Every candidate goes on and on about how comfortable they are working remotely, how much they dislike driving to work and getting stuck in a cubicle, and what a dream it would be if they could work from home (or wherever they are).
Those are such horrible reasons to want to work remotely. Common guys! Remote work already means you can work from anywhere.
And the last thing I want to hear is you complaining how much you hate your current job. That’s not the attitude I’m looking for. These are they people that will not survive in a remote organization. No sirree.
Also, when they say it’s their dream job, what they really mean is “WOOHOO…I finally found a job that cannot track me down when I slack off.”
So yes, working remotely is not for everyone. Because not everyone is wired to be responsible, mature, and respectful of their work.
Self-Learning Is Universal Whether Your Are Working Remotely Or Not
This one bugs the heck out of me.
You can learn new skills whether you are in the office or not. In fact, there are many people working in offices who have no desire to pursue new skills — they’re happen with their 9-to-5 paycheck.
Of course, there are individuals who work in office buildings that are go-getters as well.
But to say that being in an office is a better environment to learn is a farce. We’re living in the age of mobile technology and information portability. That means, whatever you want to learn you can learn from wherever you are at.
Employees are no longer imprisoned by their desks and office walls. With sites like udemy.com, for example, you can provide training to your employees on-demand.
You could choose to be stuck in the archaic mindset of “learning is only effective in your conference rooms,” but don’t come crying when your employees are leaving you because of your rigid and backwards thinking.
Loneliness Is Not Biased
Yes, working remotely can be lonely. So can being an outcast in your company.
I firmly believe that if you create a culture of inclusiveness, empower your team, and virtually meet with them consistently…then the loneliness issue will cease to exist.
Loneliness is a workplace is unbiased. I have seen my co-workers feeling alienated in my past companies. To me, that is far worse and has a larger negative mental impact than working by yourself at home.
When you work in an office, you expect to interact and be part of conversations. Getting left out is a huge blow to your self-esteem.
So before you jump on the “working remotely causes loneliness,” consider both sides of the coin.
The grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
Productivity Expectations Are Equal
Whether I worked from home, or drove 1.5 hours to the office, my manager expected me to deliver the same quality of work.
The clients do not care where you work from or what your desk looks like. They are looking for one thing — results.
Productivity expectations doesn’t change.
In fact, productivity can be equally through the roof from someone working in the office or from home.
Why?
It boils down to the individual. You see, productivity is not bound by your environment. Yes, society tells you that by removing distractions, you can be more productive.
Perhaps that’s true to a certain extent. After all, FMDM is a 100% distributed ad agency, so of all people, I should be championing this idea. But I’m also unbiased.
I am more interested in the individual’s desire to be productive. And it just happens that when you find the right people who are self-driven, motivated, and aligned with your values…your team’s productivity is boosted organically.
FMDM just happens to have a remote team with productive individuals!
Freedom Can Be Abused (But Not Any Easier)
The theory is that people who work remotely have more opportunities to abuse this freedom.
Not true!
In fact, from my experience, abuse of freedom happens just as much within the walls of an organization.
Here’s one example from When I was managing SEO at Yahoo!.
Almost daily, you will find people “meeting” in the lounges, taking extended breaks, or hanging out in the rec rooms playing foosball, video games, etc.
The abuse of freedom goes unchecked at companies all the time. And the larger an organization is, the more egregious this abuse become.
Why? Human nature.
When I started FMDM, I was abusing this freedom myself. I would take long breaks in my backyard because it was a sunny day. I thought I could hang out and just finish my work later — after all, I can work anytime I want. Right?
Wrong!!!
That’s a self-destructive behavior!
You can only enjoy the freedom if you are mature enough to manage your time effectively to contribute to your team, client, and company.
Grow Up If You Want To Work Remotely
Needless to say, many are not suited to work remotely. And that’ OK. Just because you want to, doesn’t mean you can.
As someone who has built a remote team from day one, I realize this is what I am passionate about.
Be honest with yourself. Evaluate your personality, your maturity, discipline, and use that to guide your decision.
Don’t work remotely for all the wrong reasons. Working from anywhere, having freedom, flexible hours…those are the “free food” and “ping pong table” version of working remotely.
Companies testing this must be mindful of the pros and cons. Do not let your decision to implement working remotely jeopardize your productivity. If it doesn’t amplify throughput, then either kill the program or pivot quickly!
